The above instructions suggests going to Internet Explorer and doing the following:

1. Click on Tools in the menu.
2. On the Security tab, click the Internet Zone icon, and then select Custom Level.
3. In the Settings box, scroll down to the Miscellaneous section.
4. Check to make sure Userdata persistence is enabled.
5. Click OK, then Yes if prompted.

Unfortunately, we often find Userdata persistence already enabled. Therefore, you can try these extra steps to fix the  Windows Error 0x800A0046.

Steps To Fix Windows Error 0x800A0046

The first option is to disable any unnecessary services programs that automatically load when your system boots. To do this, we will use the Microsoft Configuration Utility.

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type ”msconfig” (without quotation marks), and then click OK.
3. On the Startup tab, click Disable All.
4. On the Services tab, tick the box before ”Hide All Microsoft Services” and then click Disable All.
5. Click OK. When you are prompted to restart the computer, do so.

A dialog box will appear indicating that some changes have been applied to Windows Configurations. Please mark the check box and then cancel this dialog box.

Try to launch Windows Update again and see if the problem getting your Windows Updates persists. You can return to a normal startup by entering msconfig again and selecting Normal Startup located on the General tab.

Clean The Windows Update Temp Folder

Another possible reason you’ll receive the Windows error 0x800A0046 is that the temporary folder for Windows Update contains corrupted files. The best way to proceed with this is to start with a fresh temp folder.

1. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter.
2. Net stop WuAuServ
3. Click Start, Run, type: %windir% and press Enter.
4. In the opened folder, rename the folder SoftwareDistribution to SoftwareDistributionold.
5. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter. Please run the following command in the opened window.
6. Net start WuAuServ

How To Tell When Your Last Windows Update Successfully Ran

Depending on how long this error has prevented you from successfully running a Windows Update, you could have been exposed to thousands of exploits. One easy way to check how long your system has been unprotected is to launch the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool.

Go to Start and in the Run search box, type mrt and hit OK. The utility will launch, and at the top of the Window you will see the last date the tool was updated. Since this tool is updated along with other Windows Updates, this represents the last time you have successfully received all of the Windows Updates.

For more information on the Windows Update error 0x800A0046, visit our forums or read our other Windows tutorials.

Launch Programs With Hotkey Shortcuts

To launch a program using a hotkey shortcut, you first need to navigate to that program using the Start menu. Once you find the program in the menu, right-click it, then select Properties.

We have chosen to add a hotkey for Photoshop in the example above, and have decided to use the CTRL + Alt + P to launch it. To do this, we clicked in the Shortcut Key field and pressed the keys we wanted to use to launch Photoshop. We then clicked OK to save the hotkey. Now when we press those three keys together, the program launches automatically, without the need to click on anything. You can use this for any application, such as Word, Excel, or whatever you use a lot.

Launch Websites With Hotkey Shortcuts

If you’d like to launch a website using a hotkey shortcut, simply right-click an open area on a website and select Create Shortcut. You can temporarily place the shortcut on your Desktop. Next, right-click the shortcut on the Desktop and select Properties.

We have decided to launch pctechbytes.com using a series of shortcut keys, and have added those keys in the Shortcut Key field above. Now when we press those keys, our website is automatically launched without having to open our browser or having to navigate through our bookmarks menu.You can then proceed to delete the shortcut icon that was placed on your Desktop during this process.

If you use a lot of hotkey shortcuts, you may want to come up with a logical naming system so you do not get confused and open the wrong program using hotkeys, which would defeat the purpose of this time-saving tip.

Fix Access Denied Error – Ownership Issues

1. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Security tab, click Advanced, and then click on the Owner tab.
3. Next, click Edit. If you’re asked for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or confirm the action.
4. Click the name of the person you want to give ownership to.
5. If you want this person to be the owner of the files and sub-folders in this folder, select the Replace owner on sub-containers and objects check box.
6. Click OK.

Fix Access Denied Error – File Permissions

You can also change the read / write permissions on a file by performing the following:

1. Right-click the file or folder, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Under Group or user names, click your name to see the permissions you have.

In addition, your user profile might be corrupt. You can create a new user account in the Control Panel, then claim ownership of a files or folders as explained above. If you still cannot open a specific file, it could be encrypted or corrupt. Join our forums if you need to fix access denied error messages in Windows and these fixes did not help. You can also get more computer repair tips by reading our other Windows tutorials.

Boot optimization isn’t rocket science, but PC users, beware! There are a lot of misleading tips that claim to improve Windows’ boot-up time. In reality, however, most don’t effectively reduce it, and some are even dangerous for your system.

Myth Number 1 – Deleting Fonts
For example, many have said that PC users can reduce boot time by deleting fonts. This has been perceived as an effective strategy because it is believed that Windows needs to load fonts into memory upon booting up. I have 282 fonts in a 500 MB folder, so if this were true, loading my font folder would be equal to running several dozen start-up programs during the boot process.

I actually tested this myth by reducing my folder down to 40 system-critical fonts that Windows would not let me delete. I then measured the time it took from turning my computer on to the desktop appearing, and found that deleting the fonts had absolutely no effect on boot time.

There are instances in which PC users have experienced a performance hit due to extensive 10,000+ font collections, but this has likely been due to compatibility issues. And even after looking at the fonts’ time stamps, it was evident that Windows doesn’t access all of the fonts during the boot process.

Myth Number 2 – Delaying Services
Another common Windows boot optimization myth that you should watch out for recommends delaying Windows services using the “services.msc” application and setting the start-up type to “Automatic (Delayed)”. This is because Windows loads a significant amount of services during the boot process, and turning them off without sacrificing critical functionality can be quite tricky.

To test this tip, I changed 17 services on one computer and 20 services on another that were set on “Automatic” to “Automatic (Delayed)”. This time, Windows would not let me alter the start-up of 25 essential system and security services, but I again measured the time it took from turning my computer on to the desktop appearing.

I expected the desktop to show up just a few seconds sooner since Windows didn’t load all of the services into memory at once—but that didn’t happen. Windows was actually so effective in performing simultaneous tasks during the boot-up process that delaying the services prolonged total boot time by four seconds on the first computer and two seconds on the other.

I can see a scenario in which delaying extremely resource-intensive, third-party services might result in slightly better responsiveness right after Windows logs on. But, is it worth having to wait for them? If you’re running services that actually take several seconds to load, chances are they are pretty critical and should be set to “Automatic”.

Myth Number 3 – Boot Menu Timeout
One other piece of bad boot optimization advice I’d like to expose concerns changing the boot menu’s timeout. If you’re running multiple operating systems on one machine, Windows Boot Manager will give you a choice about which one to start after you power on your PC. After 30 seconds, it will select the default operating system entry if you haven’t decided. Some have said that lowering the boot menu’s timeout to three, five or ten seconds will improve boot time.

One question to ask yourself: if you can just press the RETURN key and skip the timeout (or if you’re not there to skip the boot menu’s timeout), why would you care about boot time? Unfortunately, this tip will not help improve boot performance. However, if you would like to change the timeout, use EasyBCD to do it safely.

Myth Number 4 – Use All CPU Cores During Boot-Up
Lastly, it has been claimed that Windows uses only one core during the boot-up process and that PC users should enable all cores to drastically speed it up. To put it simply, this tweak doesn’t work. It is just designed to limit the number of CPU cores for troubleshooting reasons, not to enable more cores; Windows uses all available cores shortly after the first boot-up phase anyway. This myth has even been known to cause the “BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO” blue screen of death.

Just for the sake of proving doubters wrong, I performed some benchmarks and measured the time it took from turning my computer on to the desktop appearing. Whether I used the default Microsoft configuration settings or enabled all of my PCs’ cores, boot time remained exactly the same. In any case, PC users should steer clear of this tip.

These are only four of the many Windows boot optimization myths out there. Visit the TuneUp Blog about Windows, where we’ve sifted through misleading tuning information, to learn more and make sure that you are maximizing PC performance.

Tips to Fix Computer Stop Errors

Fix Computer Stop Errors

Malicious programs, if present on a computer may cause all kinds of errors, such as the 0×80070052 stop error. In case your computer is throwing random errors or behaving erratically, immediately run a malware scan to restore your system’s integrity.

Before you run a malware scan, update your anti-malware tool with the latest security updates and disconnect your PC from the Internet. Next, reboot Windows in Safe Mode. The following steps show you how to boot Windows in Safe Mode:

1. Terminate all running programs and restart your computer.
2. Press and hold the F8 key while Window reloads.
3. Select the Safe Mode option using your arrow keys in the Advanced Windows Boot Option Menu and then press Enter.

Once you have rebooted Windows in Safe Mode, open your anti-malware tool and start complete system scan. Delete or quarantine the reported threats to sanitize your computer.

Further, it is essential that you practice safe computer usage habits to ensure your PC does not get re-infected. Some of the top safe computer habits that you must incorporate are:

• Keep your anti-malware tool updated and schedule regular anti-malware scans.
• Install a robust firewall.
• Read the End User License Agreement (EULA) before you install any new software.
• Scan any e-mail attachment before opening it.
• Scan any external device upon attaching it to your computer.
• Stay away from dubious websites.
• Download new software, programs, and files from the Internet only if you trust the source.

Clean Your Registry to Fix Computer Stop Errors

The registry is a critical component of any Windows operating system. It provides the operating system the necessary information that it requires to complete various tasks. If the information stored in the registry is incorrect or missing, all hell may break loose. To fix computer stop errors occurring due to registry related issues, clean your registry using an advanced registry maintenance software. Remember a clean registry not only improves your system’s performance, but also keeps errors to a minimum.

Update your files

The use of outdated files is another common cause of application and system errors.

Update Window and inbuilt driver files – Enable the built-in Automatic Update feature to have new Windows updates automatically installed as and when they are released by Microsoft.

Software files – Use the software update tool if available to update software files. Otherwise, manually update them by downloading the latest available updates from the software manufacturer’s website.

Third-party drivers – Use an advanced driver update software to keep your third-party drivers automatically up-to-date.

Fix computer stop errors by narrowing down the possible causes by using the methods above. If you still need to fix computer Stop Errors, be sure to visit our forums for additional help.

Windows XP Tweaks – Graphic adjustment

This is more of a speed tweak, because when you change graphics, it has an impact on the speed of the system. Though there are many features that make Windows look more attractive, these features make the computer go slow. So you can make some adjustments to the graphics using Windows XP tweaks and increase your PC speed.

a) Let us reduce the color quality to get started.

1. Right click on desktop and a pop up menu will appear. Click on Properties
2. Select the settings tab to adjust color quality from the drop down box (change it to 16 bit Medium)
3. Now click on OK

b) You can even optimize the performance by tweaking Windows performance settings. Though it will make visuals look less attractive, but if you want performance boost, then this is what you can do:

1. Go to My Computer and right click on it. From the pop up box, select Properties
2. Select Advanced tab and click on Settings under Performance
3. You will see Visual Effects tab. Click on ‘Adjust for Best Performance’.
4. Click on Ok

You will notice a slight increase in your PC speed with these Windows XP tweaks.

Auto reboot disable

Sometimes we see the dreadful blue screen of fatal error, and then our system reboots itself. And sometimes it happens so quickly that we are unable to read the error message completely. If you want the computer to pause to let you read the errors message on the fatal blue screen, then there are Windows XP tweaks for this purpose as well. Here is what you can do:

1. Go to System settings in Control Panel. Alternatively, you can also press Windows+ Pause keys on your keyboard.
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. You can see a section on Startup and Recovery. Click on the Settings button.
4. There will be a section of System Failure. Uncheck the ‘Automatic Restart’ option there.

Windows XP Tweaks – Fast booting

There are many Windows XP tweaks to help you get fast booting, but this one deals with fonts. When the system boots up, there are many files that get loaded, and many of those files are font files. When we work on the computer, we hardly use more than 3-4 fonts. There is no use to load all the fonts at the time of booting.

This is what you can do:

1. Make a new folder
2. Open Fonts from Control Panel. You can use Classic View to find them easily.
3. Select the fonts that you never use. Move them to the other folder.
4. Now reboot and see if the speed has increased. Since this does not work on every system, if you do not notice a speed increase, you can move the fonts back.

You can try these Windows XP tweaks and see the system perform according to your preferences.

About Author:

This article is provided by Naylor Carter who writes for http://www.xptweaks.net, a site reviewing and testing various Windows XP tweaks.

Wake up.

Okay, that’s better. Now that you’re back to reality, you KNOW computers fail and having a file recovery plan in place is a dirty necessity we all need to live with. Otherwise, you could find your computer–along with all of your expensive programs and baby pictures dead–unresponsive when you press the power button. Follow the steps below to make sure you have a data recovery system in place, so WHEN your computer fails, you can be back up and running within an hour.

Emergency Data Recovery Plan

A good data recovery plan means you have everything you need to get your computer back to the condition it was when it failed in a timely manner. The best way to do this is to have a separate hard drive with a bootable disk image ready to go. You can find recovery software programs to do this on our free software downloads site, PCTechBytesfiles.com. The Easeus ToDo Backup Home program is a great option for this recovery method. Or you can do it the hard way with the steps below:

• Backup and Organize
• Do you even know how to launch the recovery partition on your hard drive? Do you press F8 at boot? Or is it F11? Find out.
  
• Have a Windows Disk ready or create a set of recovery disks for your computer if you do not already have them. You cannot rely on that recovery partition on your hard drive, as that hard drive will eventually fail.
• If you plan on reinstalling using a Windows disk, make sure you also have drivers for the hardware installed in your computer. Burn those drivers to a separate disk.
• Backup your documents, pictures, movies, Internet favorites and email.

We highly recommend an off-site backup scheme such as Carbonite. If your computer fails, you can reinstall your programs from their servers in a few mouse clicks. Or if you do not like the off-site option, we really love the Clickfree Automatic Backup 250 GB because all you need to do is attach it to your computer and forget about it.

In addition to having a complete backup to your data,  you  should have the disks for any programs you have installed on your PC. If you downloaded them, confirm you have the emails with those download links and serial numbers so you can quickly reinstall those programs once you reinstall the Operating System.

A while back we created a handy computer information form for writing down all of the important information about your computer. You should download it and fill it out. Gather all of your disks, the backups and the completed form and put it in a shoebox at the top of your closet. We cannot guarantee unicorns exist, but we can guarantee you will need to perform data recovery sooner or later, so be prepared and have a file recovery plan in place.

View Computer System Information From Command Line

Depending on your version of Windows, you can get to the command line by going to the Start button, then Run and type cmd and hit OK. Or in newer versions of Windows, click the Windows Start button and type cmd in the dialogue box. The command prompt will appear.

Next, type systeminfo and hit enter. You computer will quickly compile all of the important data about your computer and list that information on your screen.

The systeminfo command will list a lot of helpful information about your computer, such as:

You computer’s name
Operating System
Processor
Install Date
BIOS version
Physical Memory
Hotfixes
IP Address

This is a great method to document and view system information on multiple computers and keep track of updates and physical hardware for all of the PCs in your house or workplace.